The invention relates to an apparatus for automatically milking animals in a milking compartment with a milking robot that has a controllable arm for moving the teat cups under the animal to be milked in the milking compartment and connecting the teat cups to the teats of the animal to be milked.
With known apparatuses, prior to connecting the teat cups, a controllable robot arm pivots under the udder of the animal to be milked to position the teat cups there. For this purpose, known apparatuses are often provided with a freely movable electronically controlled robot arms. This has, inter alia, the disadvantage that the robot arm is sensitive to operational failures.
An object of the invention is to provide a mechanical guide element for the robot arm to follow which causes the teat cups to follow a path that takes them from outside of the milking compartment to a position wherein the teat cups are under the teats of an animal in the milking compartment. The use of the mechanical guide element for a pivoting movement, which is each time substantially the same, results in a very robust and reliable milking robot. The guide element enables an accurate pivoting movement of the robot arm.